The tide may be starting to turn on the number of drug-dependent babies in Tennessee. After an alarming 5-year rise, the number of infants going through withdrawals from opioids is down by more than a quarter from the same point last year.

Tennessee was one of the first states to start weekly monitoringof neonatal abstinence syndrome in 2013. And each year, the total number of cases has been higher than the last, until this year. As of July 1, there have been 125 fewer cases compared to the first half of 2017, a pace that would result in a substantial reduction…